Editor’s Note: This is the second sermon in a series on baptism in the United Methodist tradition.
Have you gotten the call yet?
It’s a question that we ask often, in many different contexts.
Teenage girls and boys inquire of each other about whether so and so has called them yet, asking them out on a date or to the prom.
Business leaders quiz their co-workers to discern if that new contract is coming to fruition, or whether they will be looking for new employment soon.
Family members wait by the phone for news of their loved ones in Iraq, or the coming of a new family member into the world.
Calls can be joyous.
Calls can be tragic.
Calls can lead us to new opportunities, and calls can make us want to curl up in a fetal position in bed.
There is something significant about receiving a call, something that we both love and hate. To get a call is to know that life is about to change in some small way; to recognize that you are being given some new piece of information that will forever affect you and change the way that you relate to the world.
